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That brings us to two very encouraging recent titles: indie ultra-hit Bastion and console cult smash Enslaved. Both games take place under apocalyptic circumstances, but put incredibly novel spins on what's quickly become an aging formula. Most obviously, you won't see a sun-soaked desert that's actually bigger than the sun in either game. Instead, Enslaved imagines a world ruined by man and reclaimed by nature. Bastion, meanwhile, revels in sense-engulfing otherworldliness – spiriting players away with psychadelic visuals, mood-setting music, and a Morgan Freeman-esque narrator who reacts to everything you do. In both cases, these settings are new and strange – maybe even a bit frightening. But that's the point. After all, where's the fun in an apocalypse fantasy if you're just going from one tedious, well-trodden routine to another?
It goes deeper than a mere surface level nip-and-tuck, though. Both Bastion and Enslaved put their own spins on the delicate post-apocalyptic relationship between old and new. In Bastion, a mysterious “Calamity” has reduced the world to rubble and its people to ash, but the titular Bastion can put the whole thing together again, good as new. That solution's simplicity, however, quickly goes out the window when – without spoiling too much – the game starts planting seeds of doubt in your mind. Do you even want to go back? Should you? Who are you doing any of this for?
Enslaved, meanwhile, wages the old-vs-new tug-of-war in ways both big and small. For instance, in one of the game's first environments, an otherwise pristinely green forest gives way to one particularly iconic relic: a US flag. Up to that point, Enslaved felt more like a fantasy story than anything else. That one frayed scrap of cloth, though, forged a powerful link back to reality. “Yes,” it essentially said, “this used to be your world. This used to be your home.”
The rest of the game, then, sees main characters Monkey and Trip struggling to move forward in a society that's still clinging to the past. That, in turn, transforms the game's gorgeous nature scenery into something of a bittersweet pill. After all, the earth's already moved on. The only thing that seems out of place here? People.
For both games, that's just the tip of a tremendously inventive iceberg. Ultimately, the apocalypse at its best isn't a setting; it's an ideal. It's a push-and-pull between old and new that – depending on how it's portrayed – leads to curiosity or reflection or fear or even a few laughs. By its very nature, it charts new territory and sucks us into new worlds. Treading water for too long, then, leads to some very obvious wrinkles – as evidenced by people's reactions to games like RAGE. There's so much potential here, though. It'd be an incredible shame to see it go to waste.
So then, The Apocalypse, are you ready to give this relationship another go? Because I think I'm falling in love with you all over again.
Comments are closed on this article
Trooper_One
August 29, 2011 at 12:57pm
Can you people stop whining about "I'm getting tired of this or that theme"?!?
First it was Orcs and Elves, then it was WW2, Modern Warfare, then Zombie, now everything apocalyptic.
I don't know, I enjoyed each and everyone of these games and if the next game is WWII (or apocalypse) - so be it! As long as it is good, I'll evaluate the game for what it is.
Do you people have any idea how hard it is to develop a game?!?
If you whiners are so good a creativity, then make a game yourself and show off what you got!
Edwincnelson
August 27, 2011 at 9:35am
For me Rage feels like it's copying some of the things I liked least about Fallout 3 and FNV. Seriously, people have been living here for a hundred years but no one picks the trash up off the ground? WE can maintain these vehicles, but no one has uncovered the secret formula for asphalt and fixed up these roads? I'm going to play it but I have a feeling Deus Ex is going to keep me more entertained.
Gameraddikted
August 25, 2011 at 11:27am
At first glance I was one of those commentors saying to myself, "wow this looks a lot like fallout" but then, luckily, I had the pleasure of playing it at Quakcon 2011. I must say that I was compltely wrong. Yes it is post-apocalyptic, a FPS/RPG hybrid but other than that similarity it has a totally different feel and when I played it although a little confusing picking it up mid-game, it did not remind me of Fallout at all. Defintely worth picking up a copy or at the very least renting.
kris79
August 25, 2011 at 7:25am
Very nice reading. Nathan's got the knack for narrative. I'll have to go check these games out for myself...
stradric
August 25, 2011 at 7:18am
What I like about dystopic games are, as you said, juxtaposing the glory of what once was with the misery of the present (which is the future). Also, the survival aspect. Post-apocalyptic worlds also offer an easy way for the hero to make a name for him/herself so it becomes much more plausable.
Rage definitely draws Fallout and Borderlands comparisons for good reason. There's even an Enclave-like faction. I was never impressed with Fallout's shooter mechanic (beyond VATS), but enjoyed the world. Borderlands was the opposite. It was a decent shooter (but awful driving) in a boring world. Rage seems to reconcile those two games by being an interesting shooter with interesting vehicle gameplay in an interesting world. Only time will tell if it's actually any good. It's been a while since I played anything good from id.
andrewc513
August 24, 2011 at 3:40pm
Not really. There are an infinite number of different apocalypse stories available, because it's the future we're talking about. That's an infinite playground, and it's up to the devs to take advantage of that. On the flipside, there's only so many ways you can do a good World War 2 game. And that genre's been burned out and then some.
Ridnarhtim
August 25, 2011 at 4:14am
Darksiders is a post-apocalyptic game; one with ruined cities and fire, green landscapes, sunken buildings, an old cathedral, a graveyard, a not-so-exciting desert and many more. There's no reason it has to all be brown.
yammerpickle2
August 24, 2011 at 3:32pm
I loved Unreal Tournament, and Unreal Tournament 2004. Unreal 3 just didn't do it for me. The dark and dirty palette was used on too many maps, all that technology for a game that to me was not significantly more visually appealing. I wish Rage success, and maybe game play is far enough away from the gritty shooter that is old and tired that it will succeed. Six years have allowed too many other gritty shooters to jade the consumer.
I hope developers are looking at indie games for inspiration, but with the high cost of development few are going to take risks beyond tried and true sequels.
TommM
August 24, 2011 at 4:05pm
Really? Wow - I'm an Unreal series junkie and absolutely loved 3. Especially many of the player designed maps which some were frankly, incredible. I honestly don't know why everyone is so jacked up about TF2 (is it the hats??) when UT3 is such a superior game.
naxself
August 24, 2011 at 2:59pm
I'm glad someone is challenging game designers to move beyond normal tropes. Well done, Nathan.
TommM
August 24, 2011 at 2:19pm
Agreed - that was an excellent article! Right on the money. And thanks for the tips on the two games - I will most certainly be checking them out.
acidic
August 24, 2011 at 2:20pm
enslaved on xbox 360 was a great game. only tried bastion trial. it seems ok but the narrator would get old really fast. anyways ive submitted this story to maximumpc to see if they could find out more. i contacted 2 locale gamestops and neither could "confirm nor deny" if its true. so it being gamestop thats probably a 100000% yes.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/08/report-gamestop-opening-deus-ex-copies-removing-free-game-code.ars
Peanut Fox
August 24, 2011 at 8:47pm
Actually the narrator doesn't get old. At least not in the first play through. He very rarely says the same thing twice. I can count the instances where I've run into it.
Rcapps
August 24, 2011 at 1:39pm
Awesome article. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I've actually never heard or saw Enslaved or Bastion. After reading this article it has peaked my interest. Hmmm I think I'll be buying a couple of new games.
